lydden hill
Turbo Mini Forums

it was great to meet everyone at lydden this weekend.

thanks to jon and the team for making me welcome.

it's was a great weekend even though there was some bad luck and lots of hardwork being done in the paddock.

Ah come on, that sucks! Give us some more info! How did JF go in the Metro? Endaf in Jims mini??

jf had 2 dnfs with drive shaft issues unfortuantely.

endaf had a 3rd place after changing the thrusts between qualifying and the race and then a blown head gasket.

I will put my pictures up when I can.

Come on andy stop fookin about get the pics up.

Am well pissed off i couldnt go.

Rick

Good to Meet you Andy and James.

JF had the same luck we had.

The car was going well in the practice session for the first few laps, handling was good, although the tyres were going off quickly.

After about 15 laps the engine was stalling when the clutch was engaged. Quickly pulled the engine and split the box off to find the crank thrusts had seized on the crank. We managed to get them free, and tried to clean the crank face up. It wasn't pretty, but did the best we could at the side of the track. We then spent ages washing all the shit out of the engine, and gearbox. Luckily the bits of metal from the thrust where massive, so didn’t look like much got sucked through the oil pump.

Mean while, Gavin from Minispares, (thanks again for the sponsorship) took Peter Vickers too his workshop to collect some new crank thrusts, oil and gaskets, but got stuck in a 10 mile traffic jam 

When the guys returned, we put the new thrusts in, checked the clearance and put the engine back together.

We missed qualifying, but there was still a race the same day. Sat in the collection area, we had the signal to go to the grid, this is when we had our miss fire. After putting in hours of work I told Endaf to just go for it anyway. Starting from the back of the grid, Endaf stormed through the traffic and by around lap 2 he was upto 3rd place. Behind Bill Richards, and a BMW turbocharged mini. By lap 3 the engine was getting hot and chucking it’s water out. Endaf was short shifting throughout the race, but managed an easy 3rd, with the next closest car about ½ a lap behind.

Got the car back to the pits, and pulled the head off. Gasket was gone between cylinders 3&4, we changed the gasket, put the head on, did the cam timing, and then had a few drinks at the free bar.

Next morning, we got the rest of the turbo, and plumbing on the engine. Engine was now running sweet as a nut, pressed the clutch, and engine stalled, thrusts fucked again 

So not happy, we put the car on the trailer and missed the last two races.

I’ll get the crank out tomorrow and get it cleaned up ready for trackday at combe next week.

We have really found the limit of the 10” tyres, with this power, even on 10psi boost the tyres will not last a 15 min race.

Massive thanks to Mark at Rightline Motorsport, Gavin at Mini Spares, Peter Vickers from Altered images, my wife Laura for help strip the engine from the car. And Endaf for doing so well with 2.5 cylinders.

We’ll be back!!

Online video to follow

Team Racing

Souds like a very eventfull weekend jim.

Shame but just one of those things i suppose

Rick

awesome mucka

wel thats crap luck jim (and JF).

do you think the thrusts is down to the double grey?

Poop!!

What do you reckon caused the thrusts to die?

Bad luck Jon!

Edited by Nic on 28th Jun, 2009.

yeah good to meet you to jim.

seriously impressed with your team and car.

I will post my pics up tomorrow. there only camera phone pics and mostly in the paddock.

apart from the car issues, hope it was a good weekend all round. Post some pics as soon as Andy! What was JF's driveshaft probs? Was it outer CV's again?

yeah proper awsome weekend.

the weather was good, I had lots of bacon sandwiches and the miglia lot put on a massive BBQ too.

driveshaft snapped at pot joint end, quite impressive really!

looks like there may be an underlying problem though.

good to meet you jim :) and good to meet endaf to. shame i didnt see the car going today. was an awesome day :)

I think the root fault of my thrust failure was me not checking the crank end float when I put them in last week. This then damaged the crank, so when we did put them in and check the end float they picked up again :( I did over 100 laps at pembrey a few weeks ago with the same clutch setup without any problems. I have since though fitted a windage tray, I was thinking now are my thrusts not geting a spray of oil from the gears?? Long term I need to pressure feed them like Mr Austin does, that way I can leave the windage tray in. What are your thoughts guys?? I know a lot of the migia's run windage trays and never have problems, but they are only running a single grey, I'm running 3 times the pressure??

Team Racing

3 times the pressure!!!???

Bad luck to both of you Guys, but sounds like your car Jim, is very fast to come upto 3rd so quick.
Good point on the windage trays. When I first fitted one I had thrust issues which scrapped a block and 2 cranks. Turned out to be the hardening process on the crankshafts leaving the face rough so I always grind it now instead of just a polish, no issues in 4 years. However the windage tray could be a factor here seeing as you have a double grey. You could cut a slot in it just under the thrusts so they do get a jet of oil. Gav and I have had this conversation a few times and we think as oil is being squeezed out of the bearing into the thrusts, oil wont be able to find its way in there from gear spray.

Paul

I seriously doubt it!

Team Racing

crikey!

I think the best bit about it was endaf hooting the horn to the crowed when he went passed mid race!

Yea that was funny andy,

I just watched the video, I was wrong he was 3rd after the 2nd corner. I gets a bit mundane after that as he's driving very calmly to nurse the head gasket. Towards the end of the race you can see the engine lock up with the clutch :(

Team Racing

here are a few pictures sorry they are only off my iphone so not great.





well done to jim from team tenatious turbo for the win aswell!

Well someone won on the saturday big major thanks to jon who has shared more knowledge and tips than i ever deserve gave me my 1st ever win!!! So many thanks Jon team mate promise not to do it again...!

nice to meet you andy and glad you like the bacon!!

team tenatious turbos

What a good/shitter of a weekend!

My driveshaft popped 9 laps into an 18 lap race when I was in 2nd place but gaining on first. It was puzzling as I should be able to drive with 1 driveshaft with a plate LSD but I had no drive.

Thanks to a donation of a drive shaft and some help from Andy we replaced the shaft, Eagle eyes Andy noticed a small crack where the droop stop sits so we had to to scab a welder to!..

We got ready on day 2 for race 2 and I lost drive on the way to the pit lane, Jimster was nearby and noticed my probs and Andy, Jimbo and others pushed to The Mark wanstall's, Endaf and Jimster garage where the shaft was removed, checked over and refitted in minutes but then went again as I pulled away for the last few mins of qualifying it went again!..FOOK!

Andy, James and others scrambled to find another shaft, inner CV and circlips then we removed the shaft again triple checked it, test drove it around the paddock then begged the clerk of the course to let me out to qualify with another formula(this often happens in friendy club racing), he said "just start at the rear of the grid" That was fine for me as that was where I would start anyway.

Race 2, so back of the grid I got a poor start with bogging down slighty but once the Turbo came on song I got past lots of the slower cars, they just seemed to clear the way for me!... I must have ended up in 5th/6th by the "Devil's Elbow" but as I changed from 3rd to 2nd I heard an almighty griding noise and no drive again!... so another DNF.

I got home from Lydden at 7pm, had the engine out by 9pm and in the pub by 9.30pm!

I dropped into Morspeed today and we stripped the box to find the selector rod that is 2 pieces pressed together had come loose, this would make it seem in gear but not be but be intermittent.

So we had 2 problems, one of which was not very obvious!

Gutted as my championship lead is long gone but I will be out at Silverstone hoping to make up lost points.

We had a good piss up and BBQ with the Mini crowd. Bill Richards was awasome, doing 2 races one after the other, winning both, literally 5 mins between the 2 races, new tyres, fuel and back out. That throttle body 16v Kad realy sings!

Shame about Jimbo's car but 10 out of 10 for effort. Respect.

Thanks to James and Andy for your help!

JF.